Spikes
by Im a Skyscraper
Summary: Dani Sylvester is Sue's loner daughter. She has problems at home and at school, but what happens when she catches the eye of Santana Lopez?
1. Chapter 1

Danielle "Dani" Sylvester walks into her mom's Sue Sylvester's office at McKinley High School. Dani is known as the skipper and the drug dealer at the school just because she is the daughter of Sue Sylvester. Dani actually doesn't mind.

"Mom, we have to see Figgins." Dani rolls her eyes. Only her mom knows that she is a lesbian and has eyes for Santana Lopez, a cheerleader on her mom's Cheerios team.

"Let's go." Sue knows her daughter's rep is all lies, she gets the best marks in all her classes even when she skips her classes to get other work done. Dani wears all black and a "loner" so she always sits alone. She has a passion for music and loves to disappear into the music room at lunchtime. She loves to read so when she skips classes she goes to the library.

Arriving to Figgins' office, they walk in and take a seat after closing the door.

"Well, I was going through Danielle's record and she has no electives or teams. Because she is in Grade Nine, we can attack this right away and make it look good for college." Figgins jumps straight into it.

"She can join Cheerios." Sue states.

"No mom, you know I hate cheerleading." Dani sighs, "What is there?"

"Since it's March, there is pretty much nothing but one club."

"Which is?"

"Glee Club."

"No." Sue snaps.

"What's that?" Dani asks curiously.

"It's all about music."

"I love music."

"Would you like to join?"

"No, Dani. You are NOT joining."

"Why not mom?" Dani frowns, "It might be stupid and full of losers but the school thinks I'm a loser anyways."

"Will Schuester."

"I still don't see the problem you have with him. He's my Spanish teacher. He's pretty cool."

"Dani, if you go to the Glee Club, you will be grounded and I will take your guitars away until you are thirty."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take. Sign me up." Seeing her mother's shocked face, Dani smiles before kissing Sue's cheek, "I love you mom."

At third period, Dani arrives to the choir room to see it full and her crush sitting there with her two best friends. Knocking on the door, interrupting Will, Will turns to Dani.

"Ah, our new member, come on in." Will smiles.

"You mean Coach Sylvester's daughter is a member?" Finn Hudson asks shocked as Will gives Dani sheet music to _Waking Up In Vegas_ by _Katy Perry_.

"She's going against my will. I banned her." Jumping Dani turns to see Sue walking in.

"What are you doing here, mom?" Dani questions confused.

"You're still grounded but I love hearing you sing. Make her sing, Will. She will blow you away." Sue smirks.

"Alright, Dani?" Will offers Dani the front before sitting down. Dani sits down at the piano, playing the opening notes to the song she is to sing.

At the end of the song, Dani bites her lip facing the students who are looking at her shocked.

"You're as good as Rachel. That's impossible." Marley Rose gasps. Dani blushes and smiles.

"Thank you." Dani heard Rachel Berry sing before and knows she will be on Broadway or will win a Grammy.

"Wow, Sue, your daughter seriously has talent." Will approves, "Are you sure you don't want her to join?"

"No. But she is set on joining so I have no choice." Sue frowns, "I love listening to her sing, I really do and I know she will make it big, but I don't want you teaching my kid."

"I teach her in Spanish." Will points out.

"I know that."

"Mom, get over it. We all know you hate Mr. Schue. We don't understand why but we got the point." Dani rolls her eyes annoyed.

"Dani, shut up." Sue snaps. Shaking her head, Dani glares at Sue who glares back.

"I'm so glad I see dad this weekend. I don't know how much more I can handle you."

"Have fun with his new wife."

"Oh I will. At least I can see my step-sister who is older than me from when he cheated on you with her."

"We all know you hate me."

"Exactly. If only dad won full custody."


	2. Chapter 2

A day later, Dani is at her dad's house telling him about the week at school and what went down with Sue in the middle of Glee Club.

Karen, Dani's step-sister, who is twenty, is making Dani's bed on the couch as Rose, Dani's dad's wife is cooking dinner.

"Dani, Sue has no power over you at school, remember that. If Glee is what you want to do, then do it. And we will buy you an acoustic guitar when I drop you off at Sue's on the way home Monday morning." Paul smiles.

"Thanks dad." Getting a hug from her dad, Dani and Karen wrestle each other to the ground before Karen flips Dani over to tickle her.

After dinner and before bed, Dani calls Sue in the kitchen while everyone is in bed.

"Hey mom." Dani greets when Sue picks up.

"_Hey honey, how is it at your dad's?"_

"Alright. I rather be with you honestly."

"_Why?"_

Dani rolls her eyes, "Dad only cares about Rose and Karen only cares about her phone. There's nothing to do but walk about town alone. I spent the entire time at the library and I swear they thought I was watching the TV the entire time."

"_They didn't even know you were gone?"_ Sue asks shocked.

"No."

"Dani, you're only fourteen, someone could have kidnapped you and Paul wouldn't have known."

"I know. I know we fight a lot mom, but I want to come home." Hearing the crack in her daughter's voice, Sue lets a tear slip from her eye.

"_Okay honey, I'm just putting on my shoes, you wake Paul and tell him to get his butt up."_

"Okay mom."

"_I love you."_

"I love you too."

Hanging up, Dani immediately wakes Paul with tears streaming down her face. When Sue arrives, Paul and Sue argue for a go hour before Sue takes Dani to go home at three in the morning.

Arriving home, Sue turns to Dani in the backseat, who is fast asleep with tears still falling down her face. Sighing, Sue gets out of the car and unlocks the front door before carrying Dani inside. Laying Dani in her bed, Sue covers her up and kisses her forehead before turning off the light. Heading to her room, Sue climbs into bed, immediately falling asleep.

~S&D~

The next day, Dani awakes to find herself at home. Remembering what happened that early morning, Dani bolts into the kitchen to see Sue making coffee with the phone in her hand.

"Your going to tell the lawyer aren't you?" Dani asks grabbing the phone out of her hand and putting it on the base.

"You know I have to, Dani." Sue sighs.

"I know that, but why can't you talk it out with dad first? Maybe he made a mistake."

"Your life isn't a mistake, Dani. You could have been killed on his watch." Seeing the same look in Dani's eyes that Sue knows that comes from her, Sue sighs, "Fine, I'll call him and talk to him. But I'm still going to tell the lawyer."

"Thank you." Sue lifts Dani up off the ground and spins her around the kitchen making them laugh together. Putting Dani up on the counter, Sue boxes her in, "May I have my guitars back?"

"Are you going to quit Glee Club?"

"No. I actually like it." Seeing the furious look on her mom's face, Dani sighs, "Mom, please? You can't take away music from me."

Sighing, Sue looks down at her daughter with a frown.

"You have to keep me up to date on all the ridiculous things Will does in Glee, do you promise?"

"They might not be ridiculous."

"Dani." Sue says strictly.

"Okay. I promise."

"Good. They are in my room. Have breakfast first."

"Thank you mom." Hugging her tightly, Dani slips off the counter before having cereal and orange juice.

After breakfast, Dani grabs her guitars and amp putting them back in her room. Making her bed, she pulls out her sheet music she printed off at her dad's before playing _Colour Outside The Lines_ by _Hedley_.

"I have to say, you are getting better." Looking up with a smile, Dani smiles at Sue.

"Thanks mom."

~D&S~

On Monday at school, Dani brings in her amp and electric guitar with Sue's permission. Will said this week's lesson is "inspiring songs". Dani has the perfect one.

Walking with Sue to her office, Dani slips them both into the corner behind Sue's desk before hugging her good-bye. Disappearing to her locker, Dani grabs her books immediately going to her Art class.

Sitting in Art, Dani sits next to Santana Lopez, who is her partner because Santana is the BEST art student the school has ever seen. Santana even shared that she loves it so much that she is helping out the teacher with her grade nine and ten classes. Santana is in grade eleven and is dating Brittney S. Pierce, her best friend.

"Alright kid, ready to paint today?" Santana asks turning to Dani, "Wait, I know you, you are Coach Sylvester's daughter, right?"

"Yes," Dani nods, "I'm Danielle Sylvester, Dani for short."

"You joined Glee Club on Friday. You were good. Personally I think you and Rachel Berry should sing side by side to see who is better."

"I'm only fourteen." Santana looks at her shocked.

"I thought you were fifteen. Wow. Do you have a song for this week's lesson?"

"I'm hoping to perform today actually."

"You have got to be kidding me." Santana gasps stunned. Seeing Dani blush and fiddle with her notebook, Santana realizes she isn't kidding, "Wow. You must be a fast learner."

"I love music. Plus everyone loves hanging out with friends, I love being in my room playing guitar and putting on concerts for mom."

"Your mom is scary."

"She can be." Dani admits, "But she cares and just wants what is best for people."

After Art, Dani heads to Sue's office to get her guitar and amp for Guitar class. Arriving to Guitar class, Dani sets up her guitar with all of the other private students since this is the other elective she chose that started that class.

"Alright Danielle," The teacher starts.

"Dani please." Dani interrupts.

"Dani? What kind of name is that?"

"A nickname."

"Whatever, Danielle." Dani rolls her eyes, "Don't roll your eyes at me."

Ignoring him, Dani plays the notes he teaches her, which she knows. Smirking, Dani begins to play the anthem while staring at the teacher, who glares at her.

"GET OUT!" The teacher screams at her once she is finished as the students all cheer.

"Gladly." Packing up, Dani leaves without looking back.


	3. Chapter 3

Walking to the choir room, Dani sets up her guitar and amp after closing the door without realizing Will is there. Playing her song without singing, Dani hums it while jamming out and dancing around the room.

"Wow, that was really good." Jumping, Dani turns around to see it's Will.

"Sorry, I didn't know anyone was in here, sorry." Dani apologizes turning off the amp.

"No, don't worry about it. Is that the song you chose for the lesson?"

"Yes. It's _Invisible_ by _Hedley_."

"I don't know who they are."

"They are a Toronto band from Canada. They are amazing."

"I'll take your word for it. What's the song about?"

"Bullying, rediscovering yourself, getting your feet back on the ground, and coming out of the darkest parts of your life. You're invisible no matter what anyone says."

"Wow. I can't wait to hear it."

Just then, the bell rings and Will tells her to just sit down with her amp and guitar.

"May I go get my mom? I know she would like to see this." Dani asks politely.

"Sure, she could sit with us and enjoy the show." Will's smile stays the same. Dani rests her guitar in it's case and takes off into the hall running down to Sue's office.

Arriving to her mother's office, Dani knocks to see Sue talking to Santana and Brittney. Seeing Sue signal her to come in, Dani steps in.

"What is it Dani?" Sue asks looking at her.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come to the choir room to see me perform?" Sue sees the excited look on her daughter's face and couldn't say no. Standing up, Sue nods.

"Why not? Lets head out."

Walking down the hall as the bell rings, Sue listens to Dani as she talks about her song excitedly. Dani NEVER wears dresses or skirts, so she is always in shorts and pants. Dani is very sporty and loves to snowboard and skateboard. She is a tomboy.

Walking into the choir room, Sue sits in Dani's seat, putting Dani's hair into a ponytail as Dani re-hooks her guitar to the amp and sets the volume since someone kicked it.

"Everyone, Dani has already picked a song for us for the lesson so here it is." Will announces. Taking a seat next to Sue, Dani walks to the front and takes a deep breath. Seeing Santana smile and nod, Dani nods back before beginning the opening chords.

Breathing heavily, Dani looks at everyone to see them on their feet clapping with smiles on their faces. Looking at Sue, Dani sees a puzzled look while she is clapping. Dani sung the song to get her point across, she is living a double life and is tired of it. She is tired of being scared of her own parents and afraid to go to school every day of her life.

Walking over to Sue, Dani puts the guitar away before crossing her arms shyly, looking down at her feet.

"You're scared of me aren't you?" Sue asks as everyone goes silent.

"A little." Dani whispers.

"Dani."

"Okay, a lot. I'm absolutely terrified."

"What about your dad?"

"Worse."

"Can you look at me?" Looking up at her, Sue sees tears in Dani's eyes and complete fear in her brown eyes, "You know I will never hurt you like your dad did when you were eight."

When Dani was eight, Paul tried to stab Dani but Sue called the police and the police arrested him in time and Dani has been terrified of her parents since.

"I can't keep you from seeing your dad because you have to go even if you're sick."

"I hate going there."

"I know you do." Sue sighs and gently takes her hand, "But you have to go. Court's orders."

Not saying a word, Dani sits down on Sue's lap and cuddles up to her. Hugging her daughter tightly, Sue kisses her forehead lightly as Dani hugs her back.


	4. Chapter 4

That Tuesday, Dani walks down the hallway to her Art class to only get slammed into the lockers.

"Listen here freak, and listen good." It's Brittney, "You will stay away from my girlfriend if you know what's good for you."

Dani snorts, "I'm not scared of you."

"Oh really? Ladies." The whole Cheerios team surrounds them, "Scared now?"

"You can't lay a hand on me." Dani's voice trembles.

"Stop trying to be brave, freak. We all know you are scared."

Breathing heavily as Brittney smirks, Brittney and the team begins to hit and punch Dani to a pulp. Once Dani is knocked out, they begin to kick her while she is on the ground.

The Art teacher walks out around an hour into the lesson, into the hallway and is shocked to see her favourite student knocked out. Immediately rushing to the phone she calls Santana forward.

"What is wrong, Ms. Harp?" Santana asks.

"Santana, I need you to stay with Dani at all costs. Do not move her at all, talk to her and if she talks back, keep her talking and aware." Ms. Harp answers.

"Okay." Santana nods confused.

"Go in the hall, you will see her." Doing as she is told, Santana covers her mouth frozen until Ms. Harp pushes her forward and closes the door.

Santana kneels down next to Dani and begins to talk to her.

"Dani, if you can hear me, it's Santana. I need you to open your eyes. Come on beautiful." Santana speaks gently taking Dani's hand in her own, "Please open your beautiful eyes, Dani. We need to know who did this to you."

Feeling Dani's hand tremble in her own, Santana smiles faintly.

"Come on Dani, I know you are incredibly strong. Open your eyes."

Watching Dani's eyes flicker, Santana continues to encourage her until Dani's eyes are open. Just then they hear running feet, making Dani whimper.

"Don't worry Dani, no one will hurt you again." Santana promises.

"Dani!" Dani relaxes hearing her mother's terrified voice, "Lopez, is she alright?"

"She's awake Coach." Santana reports as Coach kneels down next to her.

"Dani can you hear me?" Sue asks as Dani slowly turns her head toward her, "Easy honey."

Seeing tears in Dani's eyes and her chin quiver, Sue knows she is close to breaking down.

"Santana, could you give Dani and I a moment?" Sue asks stroking Dani's hair from her face.

"Of course. I'll go see Ms. Harp." Immediately leaving, Santana looks back at Sue pausing at the door to see Sue laying on the floor next to Dani whispering to her. Disappearing into the classroom, Santana knows Sue will find out who did this to Dani.

"Dani, who did this to you, honey?" Sue asks in a whisper.

"Cheerios." Dani croaks.

Shocked, Sue is beyond furious but she won't take it out on Dani, "Was Lopez one of them?"

"No. She was in the classroom. Brittney was the leader."

"Sweet Brittney? Dating Santana, Brittney?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"She knows I like Santana."

"She's off the team. Plus the Cheerios will be over. This has gone too far." Seeing her daughter is about to protest, Sue hushes her, "No, Dani, I made up my mind. I will make a new team and work them twice as hard. Will you help me?"

"What do you need me to do?"

"Well, we will be staying home for a few days until we come back but we need to make up a new routine."

"Mom, you get me to help you with all of your routines, what's so new about this one?" Seeing a smile forming on Dani's faces, Sue starts to laugh as the paramedics rush down the hall.

Inside the classroom, Santana guards the door, watching everything happen through the window. She watches the paramedics look Dani over before lifting her onto the stretcher. Seeing blood on the floor where Dani laid, Santana knows that the paramedics knows about it, but she couldn't help but feel scared for Dani. Watching Dani get taken away, she is surprised that Sue leaves Dani's books there in the hall.

Slipping out of the room, Santana picks up Dani's books before seeing a sheet of paper sticking out. Pulling it out, Santana smiles knowingly seeing a sketch of her name and Dani's in a heart with fireworks around it.

Folding it, Santana slips it in her pocket before taking her seat with Dani's books on her desk. Once class is over, Santana heads to her locker and puts Dani's books in her locker before grabbing her Science books and keeping her sketchbook. Pulling out Dani's artwork, she puts it up in her locker with a smile.

"Hey Santana." Brittney greets as Santana slams her locker shut.

"Why did you do that to Dani?" Santana snaps turning to her, "You do know that Coach cancelled Cheerios right?"

"The freak told didn't she?" Brittney snarls.

"Like Dani has a choice. She's in the hospital thanks to you. Ms. Harp, Coach and I were afraid she wouldn't wake up."

"So what? She is better off dead anyways."

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"She likes you okay?"

"So what, she is fourteen. I love you, Brittney, but now, I'm not so sure if I want to be with you if you are so scared of a girl liking me." Walking away, Santana sits down in her class early and begins to sketch in her sketchbook, thinking about a familiar pair of brown eyes and blonde with brown hair. By the time class starts, she looks at it to see she drew exactly the same thing Dani did but with Dani's name on top and her full name on the bottom.

_Oh shit, I have a crush on Dani Sylvester._ Santana realizes

~D&S~

At the hospital, Dani is playing her acoustic guitar for the little kids and teenagers older than her. Sue ran home and got her guitar before arriving knowing Dani would ask for it and beg until she got it.

Hearing her daughter sing for the other kids older and younger, while sitting in a wheel chair Sue smiles, nothing can stop Dani from singing or playing music.

"Hey Coach." Looking up, Sue is surprised to see the Glee Club standing there, and it was Santana who greeted her.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sue asks confused.

"Seeing how Dani is doing." Santana answers. Knowing Sue is looking for Brittney, Santana speaks again, "Brittney was with Principal Figgins when we got permission to come. Plus Brittney and I are broken up in my books."

"Who reported her?"

"I did."

Sue stares at Santana shocked as the younger girl bites her bottom lip nervously.

"Thank you." Sue nods, "It means the world to mean that you are willing to do this to protect my daughter."

"Dani is a very special young girl and she doesn't deserve what Brittney did to her. For that, I'm sorry. But I know Dani will come out stronger."

"I know she will. She will be terrified for a while but she will be stronger than before." They look at Dani who is softly playing _Twinkle Twinkle Little Star_ while a little four-year-old sings it next to her with a huge black eye from child abuse.

Sue stands up and slowly walks over seeing Dani yawn, and gently takes the guitar from her and puts it in the case.

"No Dani, don't go." The little girl cries with tears falling down her face.

"I'm just going to my room, Kel. Would you like to come?" Dani offers. Seeing Kelly nod and hold her arms out, Sue picks her up and sets her on Dani's lap, careful on her broken ribs.

Arriving to her room, Sue puts Kelly on the bed before helping Dani under the covers. Kelly crawls to Dani's side and rests her head on her leg. Curling up in a ball, Kelly yawns and falls asleep hugging Dani's arm.

"Looks like you have a cub." Sue teases sitting down on the bed. Dani smiles and strokes Kelly's hand.

"Can we bring her home?" Dani whispers.

"You know we can't."

"Adopt her."

"What about her parents?"

"We both know they are abusive."

"Dani."

"Try." Sighing, Sue sees the hurt in Dani's eyes and nods.

"I'll try, but no promises."

After the conversation, Will and Sue begins to talk as the Glee Club and Dani talk about what happened and about Nationals in two months. They hope that Dani is better for it, mentally.


	5. Chapter 5

A week later, Dani is released from the hospital and with a promise to Kelly, everyday after school, Dani would visit her.

Hearing a knock on her hospital door, Dani rolls over in her bed and opens her eyes to see Sue come in.

"Mom?" Dani croaks out still tired.

"It's time to get up honey. I signed you out and they said you can take a shower and get ready for school now." Sue whispers loud enough for Dani to hear her and understand but soft enough for it's not loud.

"Okay." Crawling out of bed, Dani grabs the bag Sue brought her and jumps into the shower. After the shower, getting dressed and brushing her teeth, Dani and Sue heads down to the cafeteria and Sue orders breakfast for Dani as Dani grabs the first seat she can have, since she is still weak.

After eating, Sue looks at her watch to see it is ten minutes before Dani's first class and it's only a five minute drive to school.

"Let's go."

Arriving to the school, Sue walks Dani to her Art class and Dani takes her seat just as the bell rings.

"Mom, where are my books?" Dani asks in a whisper with Santana next to her.

"Shoot, I forgot to grab them." Sue curses in her mind.

"They are in my locker, Coach." Santana jumps in, "I'll ask Ms. Harp if I could run and get them."

After Ms. Harp sets the lesson, Santana walks over to her and immediately rushes out of the room as Sue kneels down next to Dani.

"Would you like me to stay?" Sue whispers.

"Don't you have to get ready for tryouts?"

"Yes, but Dani, you are more important."

"I'll be okay. I'll keep to myself like normal."

"Okay. Just walk into my office anytime. Even if you are skipping class."

"I will." Watching Sue leave as Santana walks in, Santana slides her books onto her desk as she takes her seat, "Thank you."

"No problem." Immediately getting to work, Dani stays after class getting handouts from the passed week's work which Ms. Harp tells Dani that Santana is to help her with and will meet her at lunch in the library with.

In Drama, Dani has five skits to learn alone while everyone else had partners. When the teacher isn't looking, Dani gathers her things and storms out furiously. Her teacher is always harsh to her and never treats her with respect. How can you have five scripts memorized for the next class and present them to the class without help? It's impossible!

Storming into Sue's office, Dani slams the door and throws her books to the ground before collapsing to the ground. Breaking down and crying, Sue immediately gathers Dani into her arms and lets her cry.

After explaining everything to Sue, Sue and Dani sit on the floor and read the skits together to find the ones that Dani can do and the ones she can't. Walking to the Drama room, Sue carries Dani's books and shields her from curious eyes. Slamming the door open, Sue rubs Dani's arm calmly, in her own way saying sorry for making her jump. Walking into the room, Sue waits for Dani to sit down before walking up to the teacher with the scripts/skits in hand.

"My daughter and I have been dealing with your nasty attitude all year and we are done." Sue starts, "Giving everyone else partners this passed week while she was in the hospital and the day she comes back and making her do the same assignment without a partner is overwhelming for her and caused her to have a breakdown for over twenty minutes. As a compromise, she and I have chosen three for her to do tomorrow for class, but the other two she won't do. You can take it or leave it, but you have no say in the matter."

Putting the two scripts on her desk that Dani isn't doing on her desk, Sue shows her the three that Dani is doing.

"These are the three that Dani will be doing. The balcony scene in _Romeo and Juliet_, the part where Ronnie comes home late in _The Last Song_, and the scene where Bella realizes Jacob imprinted on Bella's baby in _Breaking Dawn Part Two_." The teacher notices they are the longest so she nods.

"Fine, your daughter always gets her way so she is a spoiled little brat anyways."

"Dani isn't actually if you must know. She earns her way by doing work. Now don't call my daughter a brat."

Hearing the bell ring, Sue walks toward Dani and helps her up before they head to the choir room. In the choir room, Sue slips the scripts in Dani's folder before putting the folder in Dani's binder that's for Science.

"Here is the money for your lunch." Sue hands her the money and Dani slips it in her pocket, "Do you feel okay?"

"Just tired and a little hungry." Dani answers.

"I'll get you something to eat. Don't perform without me." Kissing Dani's hair, Sue leaves to the cafeteria to get Dani something to eat.

In the choir room, Dani freezes seeing Santana storm into the room with Brittney following.

"But Santana," Brittney starts.

"No Brittney!" Santana shouts turning to her, "It's over. Finished."

Hearing a whimper, both girls look over to see Dani curled up in a ball on her chair.

"Aww poor baby." Brittney laughs, "She's scared."

"Back off, Brittney." Santana snaps before walking over to Dani slowly. Kneeling down besides her, Santana sighs, "I'm sorry Dani, are you okay?"

"I want mom." Dani whispers into her knees.

"I know you do. May I sit next to you?"

"Okay." Santana sits down next to Dani and tickles her neck gently earning giggles from the younger girl. Gently taking Dani's hand in her own, Santana holds Dani's hand in her lap.

Just as the bell rings, Will walks in with Sue and Sue opens Dani's chocolate chip cookie and hands it to her.

"Good morning everyone, and welcome back Brittney and Dani." Will greets as Dani eats her cookie, "This week's lesson is boys sing female country singers and girls sing male country singers, does anyone want to start us off or give us a demo?"

Dani raises her hand as Sue gets us and hands her an acoustic guitar.

"Go ahead Dani." Dani stands up and takes the guitar.

"I actually have two by the same artist so I'm going to sing them back-to-back."

"Go ahead, no one else has anything." Will approves.

"Suck up." Brittney fake-coughs.

"Brittney." Will snaps.

"What, she is!"

"No she isn't. Now I want to speak to you in Will's office." Sue steps in. Watching Sue close the door softly for Dani's sake, Dani pulls up a stool before adjusting the strap.

"Sorry Dani, please play for us." Will apologizes.

Nodding, Dani bites her lip, "The first song is _The Trouble With Girls_ by _Scotty McCreery_. The second song is _I Love You This Big_ also by _Scotty McCreery_."

"I have a question first." Kurt asks as Dani places her fingers for the chords. Dani looks at him waiting, "Are you a lesbian?"

"KURT!" Santana gasps shocked that he found out.

"I wasn't hiding, but yes."

"Who do you like?"

"She's in this room, but I know she knows because a certain drawing of mine is missing and she is the only one who had my books. So I know she knows I like her."

"Plus you just admitted it."

"Exactly."

"Okay, you guys can talk about crushes after, Dani, the songs?" Will smiles.

"Right."

Playing the opening chords as everyone goes silent and Santana blushes, Dani stares straight at her.

Immediately changing the chords, Dani switches to _I Love You This Big_, surprising everyone how fast she can switch songs midway.

Playing the last few notes, Dani stares straight at Santana like she has since the beginning, and walks over to her. Putting the guitar on the stand, Dani takes Santana's hand.

"I fell in love with you when I first met you, Santana. When I first saw you in Art class when you sat next to me I knew I wanted to be more than friends and I was terrified of that. But I moved on from that and realized that I rather have you in my life than not at all."

Noticing tears in Santana's eyes, Dani wipes the fallen ones away.

"I thought it was just a crush." Santana whispers looking down. Dani goes onto her knees and makes eyes contact.

"That was back in September. I know you might not be over Brittney but I can wait, Santana. I don't want to be your rebound girl."

"I graduate this year, Dani. I don't even know if I'm going to college or not."

"Do you want to be a cheerleader all your life?"

"No. I love music, I might go to college, I don't even know."

"Why not take a year off?"

"Maybe."


	6. Chapter 6

It is the day of Nationals, and Sue is sitting in the audience with Will and Emma Pillsbury. The new Cheerios won their Nationals, and Sue and Dani applied Santana on a full scholarship to college in New York for cheerleader but also music, thanks to Dani and recording her in Glee Club.

Holding the letter in her hands, Dani approaches Santana and gently taps her on her shoulder.

"Oh, hey Dani." Santana smiles.

"This is for you." Dani hands her the open letter and Santana reads it. After a few minutes, Santana looks down at her surprised.

"You and Coach went behind my back to do this?"

"We wanted to make sure you had open doors in case of whatever you chose. I recorded you in Glee and sent in videos of you performing and they loved you." Seeing her starting to smile, Santana hugs her tightly.

"Thank you. You are an angel, Dani."

After performing together, they all stand together waiting to hear who wins. Marley is holding Dani's hand tightly with Santana holding the other. Watching Sue stand up and leave, Dani frowns before watching her re-enter with a little girl and an adult. Recognizing the face of the girl, Dani smiles as everyone around her cheers. Sue picks up the little girl and points at Dani. As the little girl waves at Dani, Dani waves back with a hug smile on her face. Sue won custody over Kelly.

"We won!" Santana squeals looking at Dani as they walk over to Emma, Sue and Will.

"That's great! I'm excited for you guys. But I have something else to be excited for as well." Dani admits.

"What's that?"

"You know that little girl from the hospital? Kelly?"

"What about her? Did Coach win custody?"

"I hope so."

"Let's find out." Taking Dani's hand, Santana begins to run through the crowd and before they know it they are standing before Sue and Kelly, "I'll see you on the bus, Dani." Santana winks at Dani and kisses her cheek before joining Mercedes and Rachel in the audience.

"You got a kiss from your crush." Sue teases as Dani blushes.

"Dani!" Kelly interrupts, "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Kelly." Lifting Kelly off Sue's lap, Dani kisses Kelly's forehead, "How are you?"

"Good. Dani this is Rose. She is my," Kelly pauses, "What are you again?"

"Your case worker." Rose smiles sitting next to Sue.

"Case worker. Whatever that is. All I know it means I get to go home with you."

Sue watches Dani's face turn to shock and excitement. Immediately Dani leans down and hugs Sue tightly.

"You won custody." Dani whispers in Sue's ear.

"Yes I did." Sue agrees, "Welcome to the family, Kelly."

~D&S~

On the bus, Kelly leans against Dani sleeping while listening to Dani's iPod to cover the excited chatter.

Dani is staring out of the window until Santana sits down in the seat in front of her.

"How is little Kelly?" Santana asks softly.

"Good. Just sleeping. She is only four." Dani smiles playing with Kelly's pigtails.

"Do you know how two months ago you knew I had your drawing?"

"Yes?"

"It's in my locker. But I realized my feelings toward you when I made this." Santana hands Dani a sheet of art paper, and Dani opens it. It's the exact same drawing as her's but it's outer space instead of fireworks.

"You like me back." Santana nods.

"I do. I told my parents I'm doing a victory lap. Plus I'm taking classes at the community college here." Santana hops into the seat and leans in, gently kissing Dani on the lips before pulling away and whispering, "I'm over Brittney now, I just needed to be single for a while and find my own path."

Dani smiles and kisses Santana back.

"Sweet! Santana and Dani are kissing!" Puck calls earning Sue to look back and laugh as Dani and Santana pulls away, and Dani blushes.

"We will go on a few dates before I ask you to be my girlfriend, okay?" Santana asks.

"Sounds good to me." Dani approves.

As the bus pulls up to the school, Dani wakes up Kelly who walks off the bus tired. Sue lifts her off the steps and carries her to the car where Rose is putting in Kelly's car seat and small bag of toys and clothes.

After Santana and Dani kiss good-bye, Dani walks over to the car where everyone waits and Rose and Sue are talking and Kelly is asleep again holding the iPod carefully in her hands. Climbing into the car, Dani clicks a button to see _The Climb_ by _Miley Cyrus_ is playing. Putting it on replay, Dani sits down before buckling up.

When they arrive home, Dani carries Kelly inside the house before laying her in her bed. Taking away her music, Dani turns it off before hooking it up to the computer.

While Sue cooks dinner, Dani watches TV quietly as Kelly sleeps. When dinner is almost ready, Dani hears crying and screaming.

"Mommy! Dani!" Kelly screams. Quickly Sue and Dani runs to Dani's room to see Kelly sobbing into her pillow scared.

"Come here honey." Sue lifts Kelly out of bed and rocks her as Kelly sucks her thumb, "Will you be okay with Dani? I have to cook dinner." Seeing Kelly nod, Dani takes her and holds her close.

"I'm right here. No one will hurt you again." Kelly has brown hair and big brown eyes.

"Kids dinner." Sue calls ten minutes later after Dani gets Kelly to sleep again in her arms. Gently waking Kelly as she walks into the kitchen, Dani smiles seeing her old booster seat. Setting Kelly down, Kelly immediately starts to eat her dinner while Dani and Sue watch her while eating their food.

~S&D~

As the last day of school arrives, Dani sits her in Art class drawing listening to her iPod with her eyes closed. Feeling someone kiss her lips, she opens her eyes and pulls away to see Santana.

"Morning baby." Santana greets pulling out the right headphone. Slipping it in her ear, Santana leans back in and kisses Dani again.

Suddenly Ms. Harp comes in and interrupts them by clearing her throat.

"Excuse me ladies. I know you much rather kiss than listen to me, but we have to pick our classes for next year." Ms. Harp teases with the papers in hand. Handing them out to her class, they already have their names on them. When Dani gets her's, she has to pick ten classes total. Circling them Dani bites her lip. Art, Math, Science, History, English, Drama, Spanish, French, Music and Glee Club as her spare.

Handing in her sheet, Dani takes her seat as she watches Santana pick her classes.

"What are you picking?" Dani asks as Santana puts down her pencil.

"Art, English, Spanish, Glee, History and Science." Santana looks at Dani with a smile. Kissing her lightly on the lips, Santana goes to hand in her sheet before sitting down on top of Dani's desk, "What did you pick?"

"Hard classes." Dani groans, "Math, Science, History, French, Spanish, Drama, English, Art, Music and Glee."

Santana looks at the younger girl impressed, "Wow, you must like academics. Why two languages?"

"Porque me encantan los idiomas español y francés. Que pasa contigo?" **(Because I love Spanish and French languages. What about you?)**

"Español e Inglés son mis lenguas maternas, así que rebotan entre ambos todo el tiempo. Pero escuchar hablas español es atractivo, Dani." **(Spanish and English are my first languages so I bounce between both all of the time. But hearing you speak Spanish is sexy, Dani.)**

"Mamá me enseñó español desde que tenía tres años de edad, así que hablo con fluidez. Crecer solíamos hablar nada más que español. Mi padre hablaba más que francés, así que tuve que aprender dos idiomas." **(Mom taught me Spanish ever since I was three years old so I speak it fluently. Growing up we used to speak nothing but Spanish. My dad would speak nothing but French, so I had to learn both languages.)**

Switching back to English, Santana sighs.

"I'm sorry, Dani. When do you see your dad next?"

"Tonight. Right after school. We are having a family dinner with mom and Kelly there. Which is why I'm wearing a stupid dress today. I hate them. Luckily, mom said I can give it to the Salvation Army after."

Laughing, Santana tries to stop as Dani pouts and crosses her arms sliding down in her seat.

"I'm sorry baby, but you have to admit, it's funny." Santana apologizes kissing Dani lightly who returns it right away.


	7. Chapter 7

In Glee Club, Dani crosses her arms and legs, frowning as everyone walks in and Santana sits down next to her. In Drama class, they were cleaning up and playing games so it was all fun and work. They got their journals back so Dani wasn't worried when she looked at her marks and found out she passed in the seventies.

"Alright, for some of you, this is your last day here at this school, and for the rest of you you'll be back next year." Will starts after the bell rings. Dani rests her head on Santana's shoulder, who kisses her forehead, "Does anyone want to sing?"

Looking around her, Dani sees no one willing to sing, so Dani raises her hand just as Sue walks in with Kelly who is crying.

"What happened?" Dani asks catching Kelly who runs at her.

"She was beaten up at daycare. The teacher called me and I just picked her up and figured Will wouldn't mind us sitting in if Kelly and I stay silent." Sue admits.

"Not at all, Dani was just about to perform for us." Will smiles. Dani calms Kelly to no tears before passing her to Sue. Walking to the front of the room, Dani stands facing to crowd.

Hearing everyone applaud, Dani looks at Kelly who is sucking her thumb, showing her teeth. Walking over to her, Dani kneels down.

"What did you think, Kel?" Dani asks using her nickname for her.

"'Ove." Kelly speaks keeping her thumb in her mouth.

"You loved it?" Kelly nods holding her arm out.

"'P" Picking her up, Sue whispers that she is going to her office to work and if Dani could watch her. Dani nods before sitting down as Sue leaves.

"What song was that?" Kurt asks Dani as Kelly cuddles up to Dani in her own dress.

"_My Heart Beats For Love_ by _Miley Cyrus_." Dani answers as Kurt grins and gets five dollars from Tina.

After class, Sue tells Dani she has taken the rest of the day off and will pick Dani up after school. At lunch, Dani sits with the Glee kids and during lunch, Santana and Dani laugh and hold hands, and from time to time kiss.

"Just ask her to be your girlfriend already, Santana." Quinn encourages.

"Do you really think I should? We haven't even gone on a first date yet." Santana questions looking at Dani who is talking with Rachel next to her.

"She has been in love with you since September. I don't think she would really care what comes first."

"Really?"

"Really. Just ask her."

"Okay, I will." Waiting for a pause in the conversation, Santana leans in and kisses Dani on the lips, "I have a question for you."

"Hmm?" Dani looks at her with a smile, "And what is that?" Dani asks pecking Santana on the lips.

"Will you do me the honour and be my girlfriend?"

"I would love to." Santana grins and leans in and gives Dani a long kiss.

"As much as I'm happy for you two I really don't want to see you two kiss." Finn comments throwing a French-fry at them.

"Leave them alone." Rachel sighs looking at them, "Why can't we have slow kisses like that?"

Breaking the kiss, Santana leans into Dani's ear.

"Let's go on a date and get out of here."

"Okay."

~S&D~

At the lake on the abandoned side, Santana and Dani are splashing each other and chasing each other through the water.

Suddenly, Dani trips over a rock and lands in the deep water. Coming up for air, Dani lays on her back laughing, pushing her wet hair from her eyes. Santana's shocked face turns to laughter before she joins her in the water.

"Thank you for this." Dani smiles happily, "I needed a skip day, even if it's the last day."

Santana swims over to Dani, taking her into her arms. With the water up to their necks, Santana wraps her arms around Dani's waist as Dani's goes around her neck. Moving closer together, Santana lifts Dani so she is straddling her before they start to kiss.

"Dani!" Breaking the kiss, they look at the shore to see Sue and Kelly eating ice cream, "What are you doing?" Sue asks amused, "You ruined your dress."

"I will dry." Dani shrugs her shoulders blushing, "Santana asked me to be her girlfriend today."

"Finally."

"Girlfriend?" Kelly asks curious.

"You will understand when you are older."

"Okay." Kelly inhales her ice cream before running into the water making Sue laugh.

Arriving to her ex-husband's apartment, Sue holds Kelly's hand and Dani carries the box that holds the turkey. Paul never accepted the fact that Dani is a lesbian; he always asks her if she met a nice guy yet.

Knocking on the door, Karen opens the door with a neutral face.

"Karen." Sue nods.

"Sue." Karen nods back allowing her in, "And this must be Kelly." Karen kneels down to look at Kelly who hides behind Sue.

"This is for you." Dani passes Karen the turkey and closes the door with a slam. She really doesn't want to be there. Seeing Rose and Paul walk toward them, Dani crosses her arms.

"Dani." Rose hugs Dani tightly and scrunches up her nose, "You smell awful."

"I fell in the lake. So did Kelly." Dani lies.

"Menteur." Paul glares. **(Liar.)**

"Taisez-vous, mon vieux. Vous ne savez pas ce que c'est un mensonge et quelle est la vérité." Dani snaps. By the tone of her daughter's voice, Sue lays a hand on her shoulder, calming her. **(Shut your mouth, old man. You don't know what's a lie and what's the truth.)**

Before Sue could step in, Paul backhands Dani, and kneels her in the stomach. Dani kneels on the floor crying and flinches as Paul is about to kick her, but Sue stands in the way. Kelly sits down on the floor in front of Dani and kisses her stomach.

"What are you doing?" Dani sniffles.

"Kissing your boo-boo." Kelly answers innocently. Kelly kisses her stomach again before kissing her cheek twice, "Better?"

"Much. Thank you." Kelly sits down on Dani's knees with Dani holding her tightly.

They tune out the fight until they see Paul sit down at the table snapping at Dani in French.

"Quoi? Allez-vous juste de rester là comme un bébé, Dani? Levez-vous et être une femme." **(What? Are you just going to sit there like a baby, Dani? Stand up and be a woman.)**

"Arrêtez! Arrêtez de me parler comme ça! Arrêter de parler à tout le monde comme ça! Je suis votre fille, à qui vous devez traiter de façon égale, au moins. Je ne veux même pas être ici. A mes yeux, je ne suis pas votre fille et vous n'êtes pas mon père. J'ai seulement une maman et une petite soeur. Et c'est Sue Sylvester et Kelly." Dani stands up furiously holding Kelly in her arms. **(Stop! Stop speaking to me like that! Stop speaking to everyone like that! I'm your daughter, who you should treat equally, not less than. I don't even want to be here. In my eyes, I'm not your daughter and your not my father. I only have a mom and a little sister. And that is Sue and Kelly Sylvester.)**

"Sortez! Vous méritez de brûler en enfer." **(Get out! You deserve to burn in hell.)**

"Vas te faire encule." **(Fuck you.)**

Leaving, Dani tells Sue everything in English before cursing in Spanish so Kelly won't learn any swear words.


	8. Chapter 8

It is July 17th 2014, and it is Kelly's fifth birthday. Dani is putting up the decorations as Kelly is sleeping at five in the morning and Sue has gone for her morning jog with the cake is baking. Kelly's daycare friends are to arrive at ten, and Sue allowed Dani to pick one friend for her to invite over for herself so she picked Santana. Santana is to arrive between nine and ten.

At nine, Dani gets into the same dress she wore for the dinner at her dad's and zips up Kelly's purple dress. Kelly takes off into the bathroom to Sue who is doing her hair.

Following Dani chuckles seeing Kelly sitting on the bathtub's edge getting her hair in the same braid that Dani has.

"I'm sorry, Kelly, I can't do it. What about you ask Dani?" Sue asks passing Kelly the hair tie.

Frowning Kelly looks up at Dani, "Dani, braid?"

"Sure, meet me in the kitchen?" Dani smiles. Excited, Kelly runs into the kitchen and when Dani gets there, is already sitting in her seat waiting. Dani starts to braid Kelly's hair when there is a knock on the door, "Hold on a minute." Dani calls out to the person quickly finishing up. Once finished, Dani rushes to the door and opens it to see Santana standing there patiently, "Thank you for waiting."

"What were you doing?" Santana asks stepping into the clean house with Kelly's present in hand when Dani lets her pass.

"Braiding my hair!" Kelly jumps up and down, "Is that for me?" Kelly catches sight of a big box is Santana's hands.

"Yes it is." Santana nods.

"But you can't open it yet, you have to wait until it is present time." Dani kneels down and fixes Kelly's bangs as Santana kisses Kelly's cheek.

"It's okay, Shorty. Time will fly past fast. You will find out what it is before you know it." Kelly nods pouting.

"But it's big." Kelly whispers in wonder, "What could it be?"

Taking the present gently from Santana, Dani puts it on the table at the door where Dani's and Sue's gifts are already sitting.

As kids begin to arrive, Dani leads them into the living room where they are painting in their paint clothes that their parents were told to bring over. Kelly rushes over to Dani and steps into her paint covered jeans and t-shirt before going to paint with her friends.

"We will need t-shirts, want to borrow one of mine?" Dani asks Santana.

"Sure." Leading Santana to her's and Kelly's room it's the biggest bedroom in the house and Santana sees and tiny bed in the corner and knows it's Kelly's and a queen size bed and knows it's Dani's. Sitting down on Dani's bed, Santana sees Dani's laptop open and Facebook up to see French words screaming at her.

"Non ma fille est lesbienne. Vous êtes juste une salope et n'arrive pas à admettre que vous, aucun homme ne vous aimera jamais. Vous allez mourir seul." Santana knows _lesbienne_ is lesbian.

"Dani, what does this say?" Santana asks when Dani returns with the two worn down shirts. Dani reads the message and tears form in her eyes.

"Uhm, could you get my mom first?" Dani stares at the screen as tears start to fall. When Santana returns, Sue reads the message not understanding a word but reads who it's from. Seeing it's from Paul, she deletes it and blocks him off Dani's Facebook. Pulling Dani into a hug after she sits down, Sue lets Dani cry before Dani explains what it said, "It said _'No daughter of mine is a lesbian. You are just a slut and can't seem to admit to yourself that no man will ever love you. You will die alone.'_"

"Don't listen to him, Dani. You have Santana, and even I know you can't change the fact that you are a lesbian." Sue whispers kissing her forehead, "Now I'm going to let you and Santana talk and kiss for a few minutes. But when this alarm goes off come out okay?"

"Okay mom." Setting the clock for ten minutes, Sue closes the door and lets the two girls talk. After talking for six minutes, Santana and Dani put on the t-shirts before they being to kiss. Lying on the bed kissing the alarm goes off and they both groan. Getting up, Dani shuts off the alarm and they join the five-year-olds.

After cake, the five-year-olds sit in a circle and the adults, Dani and Santana sit on the couch and chairs as the kids pass Kelly their presents. Receiving toys and colouring books. Kelly gives all of her friends hugs before watching them leave. Soon it's just Dani, Sue, Kelly and Santana.

"You got three presents left." Sue points out bringing them over to Kelly who is now sitting on Santana's lap.

"The big present!" Kelly claps remembering Santana's gift earning laughter from the other three. Opening Sue's gift first, Kelly squeals pulling out her own mini guitar and case, "Dani, now you can teach me to play!"

"You're right, I can." Dani agrees smiling.

When Kelly starts to open Dani's gift, Kelly lifts out a purple bear and tears fill her eyes. It's the same bear that Kelly saw two weeks ago when they ran into Paul and Paul ripped the bear out of her arms and pushed her into the fountain at the mall.

Dani saw everything that day and followed Paul back into the store and bought it with her babysitting money she got for babysitting Will's ex-wife's kids.

"You got her." Kelly whispers hugging the purple bear close looking up at Dani as tears fall, "How?"

"Dad doesn't need a purple bear. You do." Dani answers kissing Kelly's nose before wiping her tears away.

"Thank you." Kelly stuffs her face into her bear's fur hugging the life out of it.

"Here is that last gift." Sue interrupts. Looking up, Kelly asks Santana to hold the bear before opening the big present. Letting out a shocked squeal, Kelly lifts it up and shows it to Dani and Sue excitedly. It's a group of three Barbie dolls that Santana wrapped together.

"Santana, you shouldn't have." Dani whispers.

"I wanted to." Santana smiles kissing Dani lightly on the lips, "Besides, I have no siblings to spoil, so I'm spoiling yours."

~S&D~

Santana and Dani are lying out on the grass watching the fireworks hand-in-hand. It is August 11th, and in a week is Dani's fifteenth birthday. Finn and Rachel are a few feet away sitting on a blanket.

"I love you." Dani turns to Santana.

"I love you too, Dani." Santana leans down and kisses her. Hearing the fireworks boom above them, the couple ignores them just enjoying the kiss. Santana feels Dani's hand in her hair holding her there so they deepen the kiss.

"I love you two as a couple, but please stop making out." Pulling away, they look up to see Puck have joined them. Santana is now on top of Dani and Santana sighs rolling off of the younger girl and sits up.

"Great way to destroy the mood, Puck." Santana groans.

"I know, but I've joined the New Yorkers."

"Really? You joined Kurt and Rachel to go to New York?"

"Yep. I'm going to go to school there."

"That's amazing of you." Dani smiles, "You turned your life around."

"Yes I have." Puck agrees thinking back to when he was a rebel to where he is now.


	9. Chapter 9

It is Dani's birthday and all of Dani's friends from Glee are at the house. Sue and Kelly are in the kitchen decorating the cake as Dani talks with her friends and braids her hair easily. Santana wraps her arms around Dani's waist and kisses her neck.

Kelly doesn't part with 'Sammy' the purple bear, she takes it everywhere with her. Kelly walks into the living room with Sammy and lifts her arms to Dani. Lifting Kelly and Sammy into her arms, Dani hugs them close.

Kelly lays down on Dani's lap and sucks her thumb hugging Sammy to her as everyone watches the boys play video games and the girls gossip and paint their nails.

"This is boring." Kelly complains looking at Dani's wet nails as Santana looks at her from her position on Dani's shoulder.

"It's what we teenagers do, Shorty. We don't play like you do." Santana states.

"And it's a thunderstorm outside so Kel can't go play." Dani yawns from her long night of not sleeping. Dani is actually terrified of thunderstorms and slept with her mom and sister last night and didn't get that much sleep.

"I'm bored." Kelly whines looking at Dani like she can fix it.

"What about you go get your dolls and we girls can play with you?" Dani offers.

"Yay!" Kelly stuffs Sammy in Dani's and Santana's faces before running to get her dolls.

"We are so screwed." Mercedes groans not happy about playing with a five-year-old.

"It will be fun." Kurt tries to cheer her up.

"Are you sure she can't go outside? My parents allowed me to go outside in thunderstorms."

"She's five, Mercedes."

"So?"

"How can you ask that?" Santana snaps. Hearing a whimper, Dani and the girls look to see Kelly crying. Kelly drops her dolls and dives into Dani's arms.

Glaring, Dani stands up and carries Kelly out of the room and into Sue's bedroom where she watches TV.

"Why is Kelly crying?" Sue asks sitting up.

"Mercedes doesn't want to play with Kelly's dolls and asked why we can't just allow her to play outside in the storm. Kelly isn't a dog for God's sake." Dani starts to swear in Spanish before kissing Kelly's hair.

"I'll take Kel, you go join your friends." Nodding, Dani passes Kelly over to Sue who cuddles into her side after hugging Dani goodbye.

Arriving back to the living room, Dani picks up Kelly's dolls and puts them on the coffee table before sitting with Santana again. Hearing everyone talking, Dani closes her eyes and hides her face in Santana's neck. Feeling Santana's arm go around her and her lips press against her temple. Feeling Santana shift, she feels Santana's legs slip under her before they are lying on the couch completely and both of Santana's arms are around her.

"Look, I hate little kids, and I'm sorry, Dani. I shouldn't have said what I did." Mercedes frowns. Looking at her, Dani nods.

"I understand, but you shouldn't say sorry to me, you should say it to Kelly." Dani answers playing with Santana's fingers as she speaks.

"I will."

"What about me?" They hear Kelly's voice, "Sammy!" Watching Kelly run over to Dani where Sammy sits on Santana's leg, Kelly hugs her before climbing up and sitting on Santana's stomach.

Kelly and Santana have gotten used to each other and became friends since Kelly's birthday.

"I'm sorry for making you cry, Kelly." Mercedes apologizes. Kelly looks at her before looking at Dani, then back at her and nodding.

"It was mean of you to do but, but I heard you say you don't like little kids. So if Dani forgives you. I guess I can too."

After everyone leaves at eight that night, Sue takes Kelly to bed as Dani walks Santana to her car.

"I got you one last present." Santana admits sitting in her car with Dani sitting in the passenger seat. Santana got Dani a necklace with 'Santana' in silver.

"You didn't have to." Dani smiles as Santana blushes and hands the wrapped present over. Opening the wrapping paper, Dani opens the box to see a bracelet with a dangling 'D', a heart, an 'S', a music note, and a guitar, "Can you put it on me?" After fastening it, Santana and Dani kiss lacing their fingers together.

"I love you, Dani."

"I love you too, Santana."

~D&S~

It is the first day of school and Dani is standing outside in the smoking area of the school having a cigarette. Watching Santana park her car, Dani watches her storm over to her as her inhales a drag and blows out the smoke.

"What do you think you are doing!" Santana shouts grabbing Dani by her shoulders after grabbing the cigarette and putting it out, "You shouldn't be smoking. Quit the habit before you become and addict!"

"I've been smoking all year, Santana, I've just hid it well." Dani laughs heartlessly.

"What's wrong?" Santana catches the uneasy tone of Dani's voice.

"Nothing's wrong."

"Dani, please tell me."

"Dad called the lawyers on mom and threatened if I don't visit him in the next week mom will get into huge trouble with the law."

"Does your mom know?"

"No. I answered the phone. Mom was putting Kelly to bed."

"Why didn't you tell her?"

"She has enough on her plate. I can easily take the bus to visit him then get home for dinner and pretend I went to the library or a friend's house."

"Dani, this isn't safe."

"But it's something I have to do for mom." Going silent, Santana knows she's right, it is something she has to do.

"At least let me drive you."

"Okay." Stepping into Santana's arms, the couple hugs before going into the school before the first bus arrives.


	10. Chapter 10

Dani walks into her History class and sits down in the back of the class. Hearing the bell ring, the teacher walks in and Dani smiles seeing Mr. Schue.

"Alright class, it's time for me to assign you your lockers." Assigning them their lockers, Dani is the last one on the list. Putting her books in her locker, Dani goes back into the room and takes her seat, "Now we will review what you did last year." Handing out work sheets, Dani immediately gets to work and listens to her music while doing so.

At the end of the class, Dani looks at the piece of paper that is her timetable and reads it.

History, Art, Glee, Drama, French, Spanish, Geography, Science.

Heading to her locker, Dani opens it and pulls out her Art books from last year.

"Hey baby." Looking beside her, she smiles seeing Santana.

"Hey, now you know where my locker is." Dani teases. Santana chuckles and kisses her on the lips.

"That I do." Santana wraps her arms around Dani and laces their hands together, "I love you."

"I love you too." Gently kissing Dani's neck, Santana leaves her mark causing Dani to moan softly. Kissing up her neck, Santana kisses her lips just as the warning bell rings.

"I have Art." Santana whispers against Dani lips.

"So do I." Feeling Santana pull her closer, Santana takes the Art books and pencil case before shutting the locker.

"Let's go then." Santana carries Dani's books and pencil case, wrapping her right arm around her girlfriend's shoulders lacing their hands together.

Arriving to Art, Santana and Dani take the same seats they had last year as the bell rings.

"Welcome second year students to grade ten Art. And please welcome Santana Lopez, my teacher's assistant." Watching her girlfriend stand up, Dani claps with a smile on her face. Santana sits back down and kisses Dani's cheek, lacing their hands under the table. As Ms. Harp speaks Dani draws in her sketchbook resting her head on Santana's shoulder.

As Ms. Harp sets them an assignment, Dani and Santana starts to work on it silently letting go of each other's hands and Dani sits up. Santana places her left hand on Dani's leg and Dani puts her left hand on top playing with her fingers. Peeking at each other, they smile before kissing each other quickly.

"No PDA in the classroom ladies." Ms. Harp calls out catching them. Blushing, Dani looks down and gets back to work as Santana rolls her eyes and kisses Dani's cheek.

"Screw that, I can kiss you any time, any where, all the time for all I care." Santana whispers to Dani before kissing her ear.

"Kiss me after you finish the assignment." Dani whispers back.

"Deal." Santana is the first one who finishes the assignment and hands in Dani's as well, who is second. The second Santana sits down, she leans over to Dani and kisses her on the lips. Immediately deepening the kiss, Dani holds Santana's arm for support to keep her from falling off the stool.

"Ladies, break it up or go to see Principal Sue." Ms. Harp snaps at them. Freezing mid-kiss, they pull away and looks at her confused.

"Principal Sue? Dani's mom is now the principal?" Santana asks.

"Yes. Now go see her. Both of you." Dani nods and pack her things as Santana stays seated confused.

"How did she do it?"

"Come on Santana, we have to go." Dani pulls on Santana's hand softly which gets her to get up and pack her things.

"Did you know she is now the principal?" Santana asks as they walk to the office.

"No. She kept it from me." Dani answers a bit pissed. Arriving to the office, they walk in with permission and sit down after closing the door.

"Is it a good thing or a bad thing you are here, Dani?" Sue asks sitting down in front of them.

"Bad." Dani shrugs her shoulders, "We learned we can't kiss in class."

"We didn't already know that?" Sue chuckles.

"It's a stupid rule. Mostly because they allow guys and girls to kiss but not guys and guys or girls and girls. Discrimination much."

"Dani, as much as I agree with you, I'm sure that's not why your teacher sent you here."

"I know. Ms. Harp is a lesbian and her and her girlfriend have two daughters. Both older and in college. She's just trying to protect Santana and I."

"Exactly. Protect you both from haters and discrimination that she knows so well."

"Why didn't you tell me you are now the principal?" Dani glares.

"Don't glare at me young lady." Seeing her daughter not stop, Sue crosses her arms and glares back, "I don't have to tell you everything, Danielle."

"This is major, Suzanne."

"Danielle, do not use my name."

"Then don't use mine, mommy dearest." Dani snaps.

"You are grounded when we get home."

"Too bad I can't be home until dinner. Santana and I have an Art project to work on for Ms. Harp." Dani lies.

"As soon as you are home for dinner you are grounded."

"Fine." Dani crosses her own arms and looks around the office, "Can we leave now and go to Glee early?"

"Stop giving me attitude and you may go."

Faking a smile, Dani nods, "See you later mommy dearest."

~S&D~

After Santana drops Dani off at Paul's, Santana waits for Dani is inside and sends her a text message telling her she is inside the apartment. Arriving home, Santana parks the car and charges her phone while doing homework, waiting for Dani to message her telling her to pick her up.

As six comes around, Santana gets worried and texts Dani.

_I'm coming to pick you up. I love you._

Driving to the apartment, Santana parks and walks into the building using the paper that Dani wrote the apartment address to guide her.

Knocking on the door, the door opens on it's own. Stepping into the apartment everything is bare and looks like no one lives there. On the counter, there is a piece of paper with blood on it.

_Sue,_

If you want Danielle back alive you better do as I say. Call me when you realize Danielle is kidnapped.

Santana gasps with tears in her eyes. Quickly running out to her car, she drives to Dani's house and knocks on the door loudly.

Sue opens the door and is surprised to see Santana there crying.

"Where's Dani?" Sue asks but Santana doesn't answer, she just hands her the note. Sue reads it and allows Santana in, "She saw Paul didn't she? Her dad?"

Santana nods and just cries.

"It's my fault, I drove her over there." Sue sighs and kneels down in front of Santana pulling her hands away from her face.

"It's not your fault Santana. Dani would have taken the bus to get there. You did the right thing by coming here and telling me. Now let me call the police and get you a glass of water."

When Sue returns, Santana cries into her shoulder until there is a knock on the door. Looking up as Sue opens it, Santana sees the police standing there. Explaining her story of her dropping off Dani and showing the text messages, and giving them Dani's cell phone number, Santana does all she can to help before heading home.

That night, Santana couldn't fall asleep.

~D&S~

Dani curls up in the corner of the damp basement with Paul, Rose and Karen, she doesn't know who but someone knocked her out as soon as she stepped foot into the apartment after she sent the text message to Santana telling her she is okay.

She is now who-knows-where all because she wanted to see Paul to protect Sue. But she is in this position because of Paul, so it's both of their faults.

Glaring at Paul as she pulls her knees to her chest, Paul glares back at her.

"Don't glare at me or I will come over there and hit you." Paul threatens.

"Nothing will stop me from glaring at you. All of this is your fault." Dani snaps.

"Oh shut the hell up. Dave kidnapping us is because I blackmailed him and won't pay him his money."

"Just pay him."

"I used all of his money to pay for Karen to go to college."

"You are a bastard."

"Well, Paul I have to say, I like this one." A man's voice interrupts.

"That's Danielle. You can have her." Paul smirks.

"Good." The man walks over to Dani and stands her up. Taking her upstairs with her hands tied, he takes her to a bedroom and throws her onto the bed before taking off his clothes. Dani lets out a scream before he takes her clothes off and ties her hands to the headboard.


	11. Chapter 11

Dani hides underneath the stairs not speaking to anyone. Using the rock, she drags it down her wrist counting down the days she has been kidnapped, two weeks. Every night she has been raped and abused, and she honestly stopped talking all together.

"Alright Paul, time is up." Dave states coming down the stairs spooking Dani out of her skin.

"Take Karen or Rose, but leave me. My life is too precious." Paul begs. Dani looks at Paul disgusted.

"You would give up your daughter and wife for your own life to be spared? That's sick, even for you." Dave points his gun at Paul's head and pulls the trigger. Dani's eyes widen hearing the bang as Paul's lifeless body falls to the ground, "Bring them down."

Hearing footsteps, Dani watches a group for five men come down with three women and they all sit with their hands tied up along the wall furthest from Paul's body and Karen and Rose.

Watching Dave shoot them as well, Dani silently whimpers and breathes heavily.

"Where is my little doll?" Dave asks looking around, "Rose, where is Dani?"

"In the corner." Rose answers looking straight at Dani pointing at her.

Dave walks straight over to her and pulls her out of the corner from under the stairs. Dani grabs the stairs and kicks her feet trying to get away.

"POLICE, OPEN UP!" Dani hears when Dave drags her partway to his bedroom even with her fighting.

"Stay here." Dave orders pointing his gun at her before closing his bedroom door on her. Getting undressed, Dani sits down on the bed and curls into a ball waiting.

"Check all rooms." Hearing doors open, Dani tightens her arms around her legs and buries her face into her knees just as the door opens.

"Found one." A lady calls out before slowly walking toward her and removes her coat. The lady wraps her coat around Dani since the clothes are ripped and now just scraps of clothes. Zipping up her coat for Dani, the lady asks softly if she may carry her to the car, and Dani just stares at her blinking before nodding.

Once in the car, Dani buckles up before staring out of the window seeing the sun for the first time in two weeks.

~S&D~

At the hospital, Sue rushes to Dani's room and walks in slowly.

"Dani?" Sue calls out gently seeing that Dani is awake and just staring into space. Dani looks at her and mouths 'mom'. Rushing over Sue stops herself before hugging Dani, "May I hug you?" Seeing Dani nod, Sue hugs her tightly, "I love you so much, Dani."

Feeling Dani's tears against her neck, Sue sits down and keeps her in her arms.

Hearing a knock on the door a few minutes later, Sue calls 'come in' and smiles seeing Santana walk in with Dani's favourite purple flowers.

"Dani, look who's here." Dani peeks out from Sue's neck and smiles seeing Santana, "I'll leave you two to kiss and hug for a few minutes but when I return after getting a coffee, I get Dani back."

"Sounds good Coach." Santana agrees immediately taking Sue's spot and hugging Dani tightly. The second Sue is at the door, she looks back to see them already kissing.

Hearing the door close, Santana and Dani pulls away and hug tightly. Dani hides her face in Santana's neck and kisses it gently.

"We know you were raped multiple times." Santana whispers as Dani freezes. Seeing the guy's face in her mind, Dani whimpers and makes herself small, "Shh, I got you, no one will hurt you."

Santana tightens her arms around Dani, calming her a tiny bit. Dani starts to leave her mark on Santana's neck, shocking her but she melts in Dani's arms. Feeling Dani pull away after soothing her neck, Dani smiles approving her work.

"Can you talk babe?" Santana asks the question on her mind. Dani looks down and shrugs her shoulders watching her makes signs of strangling and choking, Dani doesn't know, "Do you want to try?" Dani shakes her head, "Okay, we don't have to. What do you want to do?"

Dani leans into Santana's arms and just hugs her cuddling up to her.

When Sue returns, she finds Dani asleep in Santana's arms and Santana wide awake glaring at the door.

"Why are you glaring at me?" Sue asks walking over to her.

"Not you. Other people made Dani tense and cry. I kicked them out."

"Good, I would have done the same."

"Dani was crying for you. And I found out why she's not speaking."

"What is it?"

"She was strangled and choked. Either her vocal chords aren't working or she chooses to not speak. But it's because of abuse." Sue nods and strokes Dani's hair from her face. Watching Dani go tense, she opens her eyes and hides in Santana's arms until she recognizes her mother.

Dani relaxes as tears fill her brown eyes.

"Just breathe honey, you're in the hospital." Sue strokes Dani's hair again as Dani mouths 'How long', "You have been here for five hours. I have to go get Kelly. Santana will stay with you and then Kelly and I will be back."

Seeing terror in Dani's eyes, Sue kisses Dani's forehead and promises to call Santana's cell phone as soon as she picks up Kelly. Santana steps out of Dani's room leaving Dani alone after making sure Dani is okay.

Dani watches the door open and a male doctor come in.

"Danielle Sylvester, requested a female doctor, which is not available. Raped repeatedly for two weeks straight. Fifteen-years-old." The doctor looks up at Dani, "So you are the child that was kidnapped and the police were searching for and had an amber alert for on all TV stations."

Hearing her breathing heavily, the doctor walks closer, "Is there something wrong with your breathing?"

Dani shakes her head and moves away from him.

"Why aren't you talking to me? Is it because I'm a guy?" Dani nods causing the doctor to frown, "Danielle, I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to help you."

"Get away from her!" Santana interrupts slamming the door open causing Dani to relax at the sight of her. Santana rushes forward and pulls Dani into a hug.

"Who are you?"

"Her girlfriend. Her mother asked for a female doctor to make Dani comfortable, now get that doctor!" Santana glares freaking out the doctor. The doctor nods and leaves the room, slamming the door and scaring Dani as he leaves.

Dani whimpers in Santana's arms as Santana climbs into the bed.

"I shouldn't have left you, but I had to take the call from Coach. She's on her way back." Santana strokes Dani's hair and kisses her forehead, "I'm staying the night and the hospital can threaten to kick me out but since dad works here, he will pull some strings to make sure I can stay."

Laying together on the bed, Santana and Dani stares into each other eyes, before they start kissing lightly. Santana licks Dani's lips gently asking for entrance, which Dani grants immediately.

As they deepen the kiss, Santana shifts so she is above Dani. With her arms flat on the bed, Santana feels Dani's arms wrap around her neck. Dani buries her hands in Santana's long hair pulling her closer as the kiss gets more heated. Hearing the door open, they break the kiss and looks over to see Sue carrying a tired Kelly in.

Santana sits up and helps Dani sit up as Sue smiles and sets Kelly on the bed. Kelly looks at Dani for a second nervously.

"Dani?" Kelly whispers staring at her looking for any sign of anything that is off. Dani nods with a tiny smile and Kelly crawls forward carefully. The second that Kelly is in Dani's arms, Dani hugs her tightly and Kelly starts to cry, "I missed you." Dani tightens her arms and kisses her forehead.

~D&S~

When Dani is allowed to go home, Sue, Kelly and Santana walks her to her bedroom where Dani immediately curls into her tiny ball and falls asleep.

"Let's let her get her rest." Sue whispers picking up Kelly who stares at her older sister.

"But she has been sleeping a lot." Kelly whines.

"She's been through a lot." Santana points out taking Kelly from Sue's arms as Sue starts to cook dinner. Santana's parents have gone on a business trip to Brazil and refuses to leave her home alone, even though she is eighteen, so she is staying at Dani's house, which explains why she and Dani are sharing Dani's bed.

"MOM!" They hear Dani scream loudly, "MOMMY HELP!" Sue bolts to Dani's room as Santana holds Kelly tightly on the couch. A few minutes later they watch Sue carry Dani out on her hip as Dani hugs her tightly staring at everything terrified.

Following them into the kitchen, they see Dani sitting on the counter next to Sue. Watching Dani's terrified brown eyes land on them, Kelly whimpers and sniffles in Santana's arms. Seeing Dani's eyes fill with tears, Santana walks over slowly and laces their hands together as Dani rests her head on her shoulder.

"Nightmare?" Santana guesses as Kelly hugs Dani tightly. Dani nods and clenches Sue's other hand tightly, "Terrifying?" Feeling Dani tremble, Santana kisses her nose before letting go of her hand and wrapping her arms around her and Kelly, "Well the guy has to get through me and Coach before getting to you, which is impossible."

Feeling Dani relax against her, Santana feels Dani kiss her neck. Looking down at her, she catches Dani blush but Dani smiles and kisses her neck again. Santana kisses Dani's forehead and doesn't pull away, she closes her eyes for a moment before pulling back. She loves Dani and plays to spend her life proving how much she loves her.


	12. Chapter 12

Santana and Sue have just finished talking about what they are going to be doing about school and Santana offered to stay home since she already graduated.

Heading to bed, Santana takes a shower and as she crawls into bed slowly, she feels Dani flinch and begin to whimper.

"Dani honey, it's me, it's Santana. I'm not here to hurt you." Santana whispers freezing where she is on the bed with her leg barely touching Dani's.

Hearing her breathing turn heavy, Santana doesn't touch her.

"Dani, it's Santana, just breathe." Suddenly Dani sits up panting blinking back tears biting back a scream, "Dani? It's Santana."

"Santana?" Dani pants as she trembles.

"I'm right here babe." Santana feels Dani grab her hand and rests it on her fast beating chest. Crawling forward, Santana wraps her other arm around her and they lay down together.

"Crawl under." Dani offers lifting the blankets. Santana slips under the covers and wraps her arm around Dani's waist. Dani shifts closer to the point she is half on top of Santana. Resting her head on Santana's shoulder, Dani's right leg is on top of Santana's and their hands are laced together, "I love you."

"I love you too." Dani feels Santana run her fingers through her hair, calming her to the point, she closes her eyes and starts to fall back to sleep.

The next morning, Dani hears the doorbell ring and running footsteps. Feeling around the bed, she realizes she is alone, but hearing Santana's voice, she calms down knowing she isn't alone.

"You try having nightmares every night come at you and not get enough sleep." Santana snaps as Dani rubs the sleep from her eyes and turns to the clock to see it's just after ten in the morning, "I don't care if you want to get a statement from Dani. She doesn't speak so you won't get anything out of her anyways."

Crawling out of bed, Dani gets dressed and puts her hair in the ponytail before walking out to see policemen at the door. Freezing, Dani backs out but they already see her and started to call her over.

"Bring over a woman and come back." Santana slams the door in their faces and walks over to her, "It's okay babe, it's only us." Santana whispers holding her close until Dani stops trembling and they go and lay in bed again.

~S&D~

After having breakfast and just relaxing together, Santana encourages Dani to go in the backyard with her to play on the trampoline with her. After playing for over an hour and laughing like crazy, they lay down just looking up at the sky.

"Girls? Where are you?" They hear Sue call out for them.

"Backyard." Santana calls back. Watching Sue walk out through the backdoor, Sue smiles and tickles Dani's feet making her giggle.

"Dani, I think you should take Santana to the skate park and teach her to skateboard." Sue smiles tickling Dani's feet.

Seeing Dani nod, Sue stops as Dani slips on her shoes and grabs the two skateboards and helmets. Passing knees and elbow pads to Santana after she puts her's on, Dani clips on her helmet. Catching the helmet that Dani tossed her, Santana puts it on before Dani starts to teach her the basics in a whisper.

Arriving to the skate park next to the school, Santana and Dani skate around until Santana decides to sit down and Dani starts to do tricks.

Watching her girlfriend in awe, Santana holds her breath as Dani hits the ramp and goes flying into the air, landing on a bar before doing a flip and landing on her board. Dani stops in front of her and Santana pulls Dani onto her lap.

"You scared me." Santana admits, "I thought you were going to get hurt."

"I do that trick all the time, nothing to be afraid of." Dani smiles kissing Santana on the lips.

"Daredevil." As the kiss gets deeper, Santana feels Dani stiffen in her arms causing her to pull away and Dani to hide in her arms, "What is it?"

Hearing voices, Santana immediately grabs Dani's board and just lays down in the shade with Dani lying on top of her. Watching the people closely, Dani kisses Santana's neck marking her.

"Let's go see Coach." Santana whispers as more people come to the park. They both get up and walk toward the exit hand-in-hand.

"Oh look, Danielle Sylvester is back from being kidnapped!" A kid calls a little older than she is, "I hear she was raped. Hey Danielle, can I sleep with you too?"

Dani hides in Santana's arms as Santana glares.

"Leave my girlfriend alone, you stupid idiots." Santana growls holding Dani close.

Watching one guy try to touch Dani, Santana punches him in the face.

"Don't touch her." Feeling Dani tremble, they start walking again until a guy sticks out his foot, tripping Dani. Thankfully Dani is in Santana's arms so she doesn't fall. Santana turns around and kicks the guy between the legs, "Don't come near her, got it?"

Once they are inside the school, Dani steps onto her board and rolls away with Santana dragging her down the halls to Sue's office with a tiny smile on her face.

Arriving to Sue's office, Dani steps right in and dives into Sue's arms ignoring Kitty and Brittney sitting there.

"What happened?" Sue asks Santana who is standing at the door.

"Some guys were making fun of her for getting raped and wanted to sleep with her. I punched a guy and kicked one guy between the legs." Santana frowns deeply watching Dani tremble and sit on Sue's lap terrified. Watching Sue lean down closer to Dani, Sue nods.

"Dani wants you closer to us, Santana, she says you're too far away." Closing the door, Santana walks closer until she is next to her girlfriend. Kissing Dani's head, Santana hugs her tightly before sitting down on the ground with her head resting against Dani's leg.

Watching Dani start to play with her hair, Santana laces their hands together before pulling her off of Sue's lap and onto her's. Kissing Dani's neck as Sue talks with Brittney and Kitty, Santana starts to give Dani a hickey causing her to moan softly, burying her hands into Santana's hair.

Dani holds Santana in place and leans her head back giving her more access.

"Alright girls, that's enough." Sue interrupts breaking up the couple. They both look up to see Sue looking at them knowingly, "You two haven't had sex yet, have you?"

"No." Santana answers as Dani hides while blushing at the blunt question.

"Good, it's not going to happen." Sue stands up and pulls Dani to her feet and looks at her neck, "You might want to cover that." Santana looks at her artwork and smirks as Dani goes to Sue's mirror.

"Santana!" Dani turns to Santana shocked, "It's freaking huge."

"You're mine." Santana shrugs her shoulders as Dani rolls her eyes and covers it with her hair the best she can.


	13. Chapter 13

It is Dani's first day back at school and Dani is beyond terrified. Dani has done home schooling and Sue would bring home Dani's homework so Dani wouldn't fall behind. It is the beginning of second semester and Santana starts college classes that day. Santana's parents are home now so she has moved back home again, and her's and Dani's relationship is innocent.

Dani sits in the car as Sue drops Kelly off at the elementary school so while Dani waits; she is texting Santana who is sitting in her class waiting for her teacher.

"Who are you texting?" Finn asks next to Santana. Finn is getting his teaching degree at the community college.

"My girlfriend." Santana smiles.

"How is Dani? I heard what happened after her being on the news and all." Finn frowns. Santana frowns and sighs.

"She's better than she was, but is very skittish. She's terrified of everyone, even her mom, Kelly and I."

"If anyone can help her through this it's you three."

"Really?"

"Really." Finn gives Santana his famous crooked smile, making her smile back and nod.

"You always know what to say."

"Not really, I just try my best."

~S&D~

A few minutes before class started Dani walked into the class with her mom by her side. Sue walked over to the teacher and whispered something in her ear.

Santana looked to Dani and offered her a small smile. She knew Dani was scared of coming back and she hoped the small smile would help her feel a little better.

Sue walked back over to Dani and kissed her head. She whispered something to Dani and then left the room. Dani stood frozen in the doorway fighting the urge to run.

"Excuse me, Ms. Johnson, I'm going to ask you to please move your seat to the next open one." The teacher said to the girl sitting in the seat next to Santana's.

The girl did as she was asked. Dani still didn't move.

"Dani go sit down." Her teacher said.

Dani stood there frozen in place.

Santana stood up and walked over to her. "Hey, Babe, come sit down by me. I'm right here. Nobody is going to hurt you." She put her hand out for Dani to take.

Dani took her hand and allowed Santana to lead them back over to her seat. Dani sat down in her seat but starting shaking as Santana went to sit in her seat.

"Good. Now today we will be talking about…." Their teacher started and turned her back to them to write on the black board.

Once her back was turned Dani got up and went over to Santana. Santana wrapped her arms around her waist and pulled her gently down onto her lap. Santana didn't care. She loved having Dani in her arms.

"Baby!" a kid behind Santana laughed.

Dani looked down as tears filled her eyes.

"Shut up, jerk." Santana told him.

Dani took Santana's pen and wrote down inside her notebook. 'I want my mom and I want to go home.'

"Just ignore them, Babe, he's just jealous because he doesn't have a hot beautiful girlfriend to sit on his lap." Santana told her. "If you still want to go home after this class ends I'll take you to your mom, deal?"

Dani nodded and relaxed as Santana started to scratch her back.

Things were good for a few minutes until there was a knock at the door. It opened and Principal Figgins walked in with two teenage boys on both sides of him.

"These are our new students." He said.

"Wonderful! Welcome to our class boys. Thank you Principal, you can go now."

The Principal left the room.

"Boys why don't you introduce yourself?" The teacher said.

"I'm Paul and this is my brother Dave…."

Dani tensed and her breathing picked up. She knew it wasn't the same Paul and Dave who hurt her but just the sound of their names send chills down her spine.

"Shhh, Baby, breathe, breathe, you're ok. I'm right here. You're safe." Santana soothed.

But Dani's breathing only got worse as one of the boys sat right in the open seat next to Santana. Dani's breathing got so bad is was coming out in gasps. She couldn't handle it anymore. She stood up and bolted from the room.

Santana quickly went after here.

Dani was running as tears streamed down her cheeks as she panted and tried to breathe. She was shaking head to toe. She wanted to get to her mom's office but couldn't figure out which way to go in that moment.

She wasn't paying attention and crashed into someone. Sending them both to the floor.

Her fear increased and she curled into a ball whimpering through her cries.

"Dani? Honey? Sweetie, what's wrong?" Will asked frantically as he stood. He gently knelt down in front of her. "Dani, Sweetie, what's wrong Sweetie? It's me, Mr. Schue. I'm not going to hurt you."

Dani continued to cry and shake as she gasped for air.

"Dani, do you want me to take you to your mom?"

Dani nodded.

"Ok, I will. I promise, but I need you to take some deep breaths for me first." He said gently. "Copy me, inhale…" Will took in a deep breath. "Then let it go…" He exhaled his deep breath.

Dani slowly did as will did.

"Good girl, do it a few more times and I can take you to see your mom."

Dani took a few more deep breaths until her breathing was better.

"Good Girl. Now I can take you to see your mom. Would you like me to carry you?"

Dani shook her head and slowly stood up.

"Follow me." Will said.

Dani followed Will until they reached Sue's office.

They arrived and knocked on the door then went inside.

"Sue, I've got someone here who is missing her mom." Will said.

Dani walked into the room.

"Dani, Sweetie, what is it?" Sue asked.

Dani just ran into her mother's arms and cried. Sue hugged her tightly. "I'm here. It's ok. You're safe."

Will turned to leave but Sue stopped him. "Will?"

He turned back to face her.

"Thank you, Will." She said softly.

"Don't mention it." Will smiled and left the room.

"All right, Sweetie who do I have to beat up?" Sue asked her daughter.

Dani didn't speak but started calming down.

"Can you try and tell me what happen?"

Dani shook her head.

"What if you write it down?"

Again Dani shook her head.

"Maybe I can help."

They both looked up to the doorway to see Santana.

"What happen?" Sue asked.

"Nobody really did anything to hurt her. She got really spooked, but these two new boys who joined our class." Santana explained.

"What were their names? What did they do?" Sue asked.

"Their names were…" Santana stopped and looked to Dani. She smiled gently. "Don't look."

Dani hid her face in her mother's shirt as Santana wrote down the two names on a pad of paper. When Sue nodded Santana erased the names and wrote something else down. "Ok, Babe, you can look now."

Dani looked to the pad and blushed hiding her face again. It said 'Dani is the hottest, sexiest, most beautiful girl I've never met."

Sue and Santana chuckled.


	14. Chapter 14

This chapter is written by Hopelessromanticgurl. Thank you so much for the excellent job! It's perfect.

Chapter 14

Things went by pretty quickly after that. Dani became less scared of going to school and even got to know Dave and Paul. They turned out to be really nice. They never laughed or made of her. They didn't mind Santana speak for her or that she always clung to Santana.

Sooner than Dani would have liked the trial came and it was time for her testify against Dave. They had met with a lawyer who helped to get her as prepared as possible. Everyone's biggest concern was that Dani still didn't speak a word. They didn't know how she could asked to testify even if she didn't speak, but she was and now they had to deal with it…but how?

~D&S~

The trial was actually not that bad. Dani brought her music and was able to listen to that the entire time while she waited for her turn. Santana was allowed to sit with Dani and her mother to help give comfort. Santana made sure to keep Dani's eyes on her and other things that kept her calm, and not on the man across from them glaring at them,

But then it all went downhill with they called Dani up to the stand. She could barely walk because her entire body was just trembling with fear.

She sat down on the chair and looked down to her feet. Anything was better than looking up at all the people, anything was better than looking at him.

She put her shaking hand on the bible as they swore her in. Luckily they were happy with a nod to confirm her promise to tell the truth.

But then she didn't respond to anyone or anything. She completely shut herself down and didn't move or speak.

Everyone, including the Judge was getting annoyed with her silence.

Santana and Sue tried to comfort her and encourage her to speak, but it didn't help.

Suddenly, Santana had an idea. She spoke up "Your Honor, I think I have an idea to help Dan…uh…Ms. Sylvester to speak. But I will need a few minutes alone with her." She wanted to sound as professional as possible so he would accept her offer.

"Fine." The Judge spoke angrily. "I'm calling a five minutes recess, but then Ms. Sylvester better speak."

Dani gulped.

Santana growled to herself. "Not helping." She muttered.

The Judge dismissed everyone but Dani didn't move. Santana went over to her. She knelt down in front of her, taking her hand. "Babe, come with me. It's ok. You're safe."

Dani kept her head down but stood and followed Santana out of the court room and out of the court house.

They walked a bit and sat down on the bench. Santana reached into her pocket and pulled out her own music player. She scrolled through a few songs until she found the right one. She put her head phones over Dani's ears.

She whimpered softly.

"Shh, trust me, Babe." Santana said. She hit play and adjusted the sound.

Dani heard the music on the other end and tears started to fall from her eyes.

_Skies are crying, I am watching, catching tear drops in my hand _

_Do you have to, make me feel like, there's nothing left of me?_

The music continued to play and Dani could feel all her walls crashing down around her, but in a good way. She started to cry harder as the words of the song spoke to her in way she never expected.

_You can take everything I am _

_You can break everything I am _

_Like I'm made of glass_

_Like I'm made of paper _

_Go on and try to tear me down I will be rising from the ground _

_Like a Skyscraper. _

Dani looked up at Santana and smiled softly. For the first time in a long time it was a real one. As the music ended Dani went to remove her the headphones but Santana stopped her. "One more, ok?"

Dani nodded.

Santana played the next song and again Dani could feel the music hitting her heart.

_This is a story I've never told_

_I've got to get this off my chest and let it go _

_Take back the light inside you stole _

_You're a criminal and steal like you're a pro _

_All the pain and truth I wear like battle wound _

_So ashamed so confused I was broken and bruised. _

_But now I'm a Warrior, _

_Now I've got thicker skin _

_I'm a Warrior _

_You can never hurt me again _

As the song continued Dani felt power and strength rising up inside her. It was something she hadn't felt in a long time. She welcomed it with a smile. When the song ended she removed the headphones and looked to Santana.

"I don't know if that helped you any but…" Santana started but was cut off.

"I love you, Santana." Dani spoke.

Tears filled Santana's eyes as the sound of her girlfriend's voice. "I love you too." They shared a tight hug.

"Thank you, Santana. That helped more than I could ever express."

"Anything for you, Babe."

"Santana, how is she?" A voice said.

They both looked up to see Sue walking over to them.

Santana looked to Dani who was smirking. She knew what Dani was planning. Santana shrugged. "She's ok."

Dani went over to her mom and hugged her as tight as she possibly she could.

"I know you're scared. But I promise it will be ok." Sue said.

"I love you, Mom." Dani spoke.

Sue looked to her daughter in shock, but then tears filled her own eyes. "I love you too, Baby."

Sue hugged her daughter just as tightly. "Santana what did you do?"

Santana smiled. "My secret."

"Mom, can't breathe." Dani said.

Sue chuckled and let her daughter go.

"Are you ready to go back inside?"

"Yeah. Let's do this." Dani smirked.

She went back inside with her head held high, confidence and strength shining through brighter than ever.

Sue and Santana followed behind her.

"Dave's about to get his butt kicked, isn't he?" Santana asked.

"Oh yeah." Sue laughed.

Dani went right up to the stand and sat down. She looked right at Dave and smirked at him.

He glared as hard as she could but she didn't flinch.

She looked over to the Lawyer. "I'm ready." She said. "But don't bother with the questions. That man over there, Dave, he kidnapped me, tortured me, beat me, raped me, made me watch as he killed Paul and made me watch as he beat and raped other woman and young girls. He is disgusting and he deserves to rot in jail for the rest of his life!"

"Are you scared of him?" Her lawyer asked.

"Yes, deathly. But I'm no longer going to let it control my life. He no longer has any control over me."

"What would you do if he got off free?"

"Um…" Dani turned white and she felt her breathing pick up. She was trying not to think about it. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. "I'm a Warrior." She whispered. She opened her eyes and her breathing returned to normal as well as the color in her face. "If he gets off the free it means the Judge and Jury are idiots and should be put in jail themselves. If he gets off free I'll be scared, but I won't live my life any differently."

"No further questions."

Dave's Lawyer stood up and walked over.

Dani smirked. "Why don't I just save you the trouble and say, no I didn't want anything he did to me. I begged him to stop multiple times. He just laughed. I did not want him to beat me up, I didn't want him touch me or kiss me in anyway. He's a disgusting man who deserves to rot in jail."

"Uh…." Dave's lawyer was shocked. "N-No further questions."

Santana giggled knowing he was scared of Dani.

"You may step down now, Ms. Sylvester."

Dani let out a deep breath and smiled as she got off the stand and went back to her seat in between her mom and Santana.

After a few more witnesses and cops it was time for a recess while the jury made up their mind.

"Dani I am so proud of you. That was so amazing." Sue smiled hugging her daughter tightly. "And you're speaking again. I missed the sound of your voice so much."

"Me too!" Santana said hugging her just as tight. "I'm so proud of you and so happy you're speaking again. I love you so much!"

"I love you both too. But…I can't breathe." She giggled.

They both pulled away and laughed with her.

"There is one more thing I have to take care of. Will you wait here for me?"

They both nodded and watched as Dani went over to Dave.

"What do you want, Brat?"

Dani just glared. "I just wanted you to know that I'm done. I'm done being scared of you; I'm done being silent about you and what you did to me. I'm done letting you control my dreams and my life. I'm done! You are no longer able to hurt me again because I'm a Warrior now and I will always be growing and rising like a Skyscraper when you try and tear me done."

With that she walked away leaving the two men stunned.

As she reached her mom and Santana, Santana lifted her up and spun her around. She squealed and giggled.

Santana sat her down and smiled. "Dani that was so amazing. You are so strong and brave! I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you." Dani said. They shared a hug and kiss.

A few more minutes later the Judge came back with the jury. They found Dave guilty. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Everyone cheered. Dani hugged her family tightly knowing that no matter what happen in the future she would always have the love and support from her friends and family and she would now and forever be a Warrior, rising like a Skyscraper.


End file.
